In Hosea 1:2 the prophet was instructed to take a wife of harlotry, and this was a vivid reflection of the relationship between God and His unfaithful people. They had committed harlotry with the false gods of the land and so Gomer would be a wife of harlotry for Hosea. Each of their three children was named according to this judgment from God. Jezreel was the first because God was going to judge the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel (Hos. 1:4-5). No Mercy (Lo-ruhamah, NASB) was next because God would show no mercy on the house of Israel (Hos. 1:6-7). The last child was Not My People (Lo-ammi, NASB) and was named such because God had rejected Israel from being His people. 

God was stern with Israel’s sin because He wanted fidelity and faithfulness from them. So, He desires covenant loyalty and things had once been (Hos. 2:14-23). He longed for restoration and reconciliation. He wanted a faithful bride, not a harlot committed more to spiritual adultery than her covenant husband. 

His desire for reconciliation is blended with His promises of peace for the faithful. At the end of chapter 1, God presents a picture of an innumerable host calling on Him as His children (Hos. 1:10-11). Even in the place where they had been cast out of His household (so to speak), there would be a reuniting for the faithful children. While this had application to the nation of the Jews, it would find its crescendo application in the inclusion of the Gentiles in the gospel plan of salvation (see Rom. 9:25-26). This reminds us that God doesn’t just work to accomplish these things in an isolated period of history, but worked through history to accomplish this on a grand worldwide scale through His Son.